ObjectiveSperm morphology plays an important role in infertility, especially in cases of defects in the heads of spermatozoa. Tapered-head or elongated-head spermatozoa are examples of morphological abnormalities. The aim of this study was to compare the semen parameters, levels of protamine deficiency, and frequency of apoptosis between patients with normozoospermia and those with teratozoospermia with tapered-head spermatozoa.MethodsFifty-two semen samples (27 patients with tapered-head sperm and 25 fertile men) were collected and semen analysis was performed according to the World Health Organization criteria for each sample. Protamine deficiency and the percentage of apoptotic spermatozoa were evaluated using chromomycin A3 (CMA3) staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assays, respectively.ResultsSperm concentration, motility, and normal morphology in the tapered-head spermatozoa (cases) were significantly lower than in the normozoospermic samples (controls). CMA3-reactive spermatozoa (CMA3+) in the case group were more common than in the controls. Apoptotic spermatozoa (TUNEL-positive) were significantly more common in the cases than in the controls.ConclusionThis analysis showed that tapered-head spermatozoa contained abnormal chromatin packaging and exhibited a high rate of apoptosis, which can be considered to be an important reason for the impaired fertility potential in teratozoospermic patients with tapered-head spermatozoa.

Over 70 million couples worldwide suffer from infertility (Ombelet et al., 2008). Approximately 1% of all infertile men have obstructive (OA) or nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA; Inhorn & Patrizio, 2015). Contributing to this statistic is the fact that azoospermia is characterised by a lack of spermatozoa in the ejaculated fluid (Fang et al., 2019). If viable testicular spermatozoa can be obtained from these patients, full developmental potential zygotes may be formed using the ICSI procedure (Fang et al., 2019; Shrem et al., 2019). Fortunately, tissue extracted from the testis contains spermatozoa and round germ cells, interstitial cells, Sertoli cells (Crabbé, Verheyen, Tournaye, & Van Steirteghem, 1997) and a high concentration of erythrocytes (Nagy, Verheyen, Tournaye, Devroey, & Van Steirteghem, 1997). According to commonly accepted testicular sperm preparation protocols, sperm suspension is exposed to erythrocyte lysing buffer (ELB) for 5-10 min. This preparation eliminates erythrocytes and produces a clean suspension of testicular spermatozoa. Therefore, it facilitates the search for sperm cells

Background: Despite numerous reports about temporal changes in semen quality from all over the world, the debates continue. The latest systemic review has shown an overtime decrease in semen quality worldwide. Objective: To assess the temporal changes in the semen quality among Iranian population referred to an infertility center. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, semen parameters including concentration, motility, and morphology were compared between Iranian men reffered to Research and Clinical Center for Infertility, Yazd between 1990 to 1992 (group 1, n = 707) and 2010 to 2012 (group 2, n = 1108). Demographic characteristics and semen analysis were collected from the records. The effect of age on semen parameters was also investigated. Results: Despite the increase in sperm concentration l in group 2, sperm with normal morphology decreased significantly (p < 0.001). Grade-A motility decreased (p < 0.001), grade B motility increased (p < 0.001), and grade C and D motile sperm remained constant (p = 0.303 and p = 0.315, respectively). Also, no significant correlation between the age and semen parameters were observed. Conclusion: This study showed inconsistent temporal changes in the participant semen quality. Significant temporal decline were obtained between various semen parameters, sperm morphology and grade A motility. These results should be further evaluated by larger studies in the future. Key words: Infertility, Semen quality, Temporal changes.

No abstract